Lift Up Your Hearts!

In George MacDonald's novel, Salted with Fire, I encountered the following statement:

He would never rise from a finished job, however near might be the hour for dropping work, without having begun another to go on with in the morning.

I read it long ago, but it has never left me, and is the inspiration for this month's resolution.   It's likely that Getting Things Done has also inspired me, with its emphasis on "next actions."

Whatever the impetus, I know from experience that finishing a job, however satisfying, soon gives way to feeling at loose ends, uninspired, and sometimes depressed.  I still have plenty to do—so much that I can't seem to get started on any of it.  Life goes much better when I'm in the middle of a project and know just what the next step is.

So this is the crux of this resolution:  to keep my GTD "next actions" lists well-populated with specific, actionable, non-threatening tasks; to remember that a task or a project is not completed until the next task or project is ready for action; and to sleep well, knowing that tomorrow's work is ready to begin when I awake, and needs no attention (a.k.a. "worry") until then. 

 

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Progress Report

#1  Read More Books  August proved once again that it takes determination to read, even for someone who loves it as much as I do.  One of the two books in August's tally I began months ago, but at some 800 pages I'm not beating myself up over having taken so long to finish it.

#2  Rediscover Feasting  Having been away from it for a month and a half, I found it hard to readjust to Fasting Wednesdays—I'd eat breakfast before realizing what day of the week it was.  But I think I'm back into the pattern now.  What still needs a lot of work is an Ordinary Time pattern; too many days still qualify as feasts to make feasting as special as it should be.

#3  Learn to Relax  I continue to think about consciously relaxing my muscles, and it does help.  The GTD process (see #8) is also helping.  But I still have a long, long way to go.  I now have a friend whose working on this whole stress response/reduction thing with me, so maybe that will help.  What I really need to do is give it higher priority.  In a go-go-go society, working on relaxing is hard.

#4  Like More Things  I can now eat very small portions of olives without gagging.  Does that count?  I need to make this less about food and more about other parts of life.

#5  Pay Attention  I still multitask a lot, and haven't thought much about this one recently.

#6  Cast Away Fear  There were a few occasions where I did remember to respond to fear with praise, and it helped.

#7  Talk Less, Listen More  Not much to report here.

#8  Enjoy Spontaneity  I still fret too much about what I could be doing if I weren't trapped in this stupid X situation—but I am making progress.  My GTD post needs an update; the progress I have made thus far in implementing the program has helped me know better both what needs to be done and when I will have a chance to take care of it.  More than once I have been able to say, "I can give my full attention to Y now and enjoy it, because I know W and X are done, and Z can wait till tomorrow."

The resolution I need most is apparently one to remember my other resolutions, so I've added "review resolutions" to my Tickler File.  :)  We'll see if September shows more progress.